Global College International

(Mid-Western University)

Mid-Term Examination

Of

Organizational Behaviour

Submitted by: Janak Bohara Submitted to: Madan Lal Pardhan

REFLECTIVE CONTEXTUAL CASE

1. How would you respond to someone who makes this statement? “By better understanding
others, we gain greater understanding of ourselves”. Discuss (10)
 Human-a social animal who prefer to live in the society where he gets security, sharing, dignity,
satisfaction and happiness. But this social animal shows different behavior in different situations,
he/she becomes happy, sad, rude, etc and etc in different situations. In a group or society there are
different types of persons having different types of behavior. To live or stay with them at first we need
to understand them (their behaviors) so that we can react to them without harming their feelings.
There is a saying that ‘negativity lies in you not others’ that means the behavior shown by others to
you is good or feasible to them but that behavior is suitable to you or not that lies in you.

‘By better understanding others, we gain greater understanding of ourselves’ I truly agree to someone
who makes this statement. The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical
substances: if there is any reaction both are transformed. People aren’t always easy to read-in fact,
they're quite the opposite. Most of the time we can barely understand ourselves, so when you add
other people into the mix it can get complicated. There are two classes of people: victims and
survivors. Everyone in this world faces hardship, disappointment, pain, and affliction but how you
respond to these difficult conditions is what earns you a membership into one of the defined set. Now
days people are in the situation of Captivity of negativity-Captivity of Negativity is nothing than a
negative mind set, a type of depression in which individual feels negative about self and others. Such
a person lives in a prison of his own making and which in effects the decision he or she makes.
Solution is very straightforward but hard. Feel positive. So I think understanding of others gives
greater understanding of ourselves, so again at last I would like to appreciate to someone who makes
the statement of “by better understanding others, we gain greater understanding of ourselves”

2. “Hard Skills alone is not enough for job Success, “soft skills” are just as crucial to business
success as the more recognized “hard skills.” Do you agree? Why? (10)
 Skills are the abilities of a person. To do a job in an organization two types of skills are needed which
are hard skill and soft skill. In hard skill technical skill lies i.e., for an employee to effectively perform
in the workplace, he or she needs to have a specific and unique set of vital technical skills and soft
skills are those skills that govern an employee’s ability to communicate, form relationships.
When you’re hiring new employees, what is it that you look for? You want someone who is capable
of completing the tasks you assign them. After all, if your IT specialist doesn’t know the difference
between BYOD and BYOB, then your company might find itself in a less-than-enviable situation.
Technical skills are indescribably important; a truck driver is only valuable to his shipping company if
he has the technical knowledge necessary to operate a truck, and a surgeon who lacks a fundamental
understanding of surgery is a danger to her patients. However, are technical skills, or hard skills, all
that one needs to be a valuable and viable asset in the business world?
But in the same time the IT specialist doesn’t know how to behave with his/her colleagues or upper
level management team then the work of that IT specialist wouldn’t completed because the will be
lack of communication between them similarly if the surgeon doesn’t know how to communicate with
his/her patient may be next time that surgeon wouldn’t get that patient. So unfortunately, these “soft
skills” are just as crucial to business success as the more recognized “hard skills” because there’s
more to employment than simply knowing “how” to do a job.
Hence hard skills alone is not enough for job success and soft skills are just as crucial to business
success as the more recognized hard skills. I completely agree in this statement.
3. How would you convince to change the mindset of an adamant manager who says, “The OB research
‘surprises’ are exciting but neither my manager nor myself have ever used it to get something
accomplished on the behavioral front. We have always used the traditional ‘command and control’
strategy and that has worked for us. Why spend so much of energy, effort and time to know about them
and behavior so deeply? Why bother about their self-esteem, self-efficacy, personality, emotions, locus
of control or attitude of the employee? I am not a psychologist…am I? A person in authority can simply
address these problems through strong commands and punishments…poor self-esteem, for instance, is
their problem not mine…….I am only interested in results and compliance because they are paid for
that, so why be concerned with behavior and individual differences… Am I not smart…experience is a
big teacher you see!”
Will you consider him ‘SMART’ in his approach and thinking? Why? Would you like to work for such
a manager? Why? With this strong belief, can he be an inspirational leader? (15)
 Organizational behavior is the study of human behavior in organizational settings, the interface
between human behavior and the organization, and the organization itself. Organizational behavior
researchers study the behavior of individuals primarily in their organizational roles. One of the main
goals of OB is to revitalize organizational theory and develop a better conceptualization of
organizational life. As a multidisciplinary field, organizational behavior has been influenced by
developments in a number of allied disciplines including sociology, psychology, economics and
engineering as well as by the experience of practitioners.
The area of OB study examines human behavior in a work environment and determines its impact on
job structure, performance, communication, motivation, leadership, etc. it is the systematic study and
application of knowledge about how individuals and groups act within the organizations where they
work. Ob draws from other disciplines to create a unique field.
For example, when we review topics such as personality and motivation, we will again review studies
from the field of psychology. The topic of team processes relies heavily on the field of sociology.
When we study power and influence in organizations, we borrow heavily from political sciences.
Even medical science contributes to the field of organizational Behavior, particularly in the study of
stress and its effect on individuals.
Organizational behavior is the:
i. Separate field of study and not a discipline only
ii. An interdisciplinary approach
iii. Applied science
iv. Normative science
v. A humanistic and optimistic approach
vi. A total system approach
The organizations in which people work have an effect on their thoughts, feelings and actions. These
thoughts, feelings and actions, in turn, affect the organizational itself. OB studies the mechanisms
governing these interactions, seeking to identify and foster behaviors conducive to the survival and
effectiveness of the organization.
i. Job satisfaction
ii. Finding the right people
iii. Organizational culture
iv. Leadership and conflict resolution
v. Understanding employees better
vi. Understand how to develop good leaders
vii. Develop a good team
viii. Higher productivity
These eight objectives of OB shows that OB is concerned with people within the organization, how
they are interacting, what is the level of satisfaction, the level of motivation, and find ways to improve
it in a way the yields most productivity.
Hence, managers should spend effort and time to know about workers and their behavior deeply.
Their self-esteem, self-efficacy, personality, emotions, locus of control or attitude of the employee are
essential. A person in authority cannot only simply address the problems through strong commands
and punishments. Poor self-esteem, for instance, is not always employee’s problem. So I think the
manager isn’t smart enough to run the organization and I never want to work under such type of
manager and he can never be an inspirational leader.
4. Let’s take a contextual scenario. You are having a self-esteem issue affecting your performance
but your manager instead of supporting you has always been indifferent to your needs and
adversely punishes or rebukes you for the behavior deemed reprehensible. When you approach
him to solicit support from him, the manager presents to you the same logic as mentioned
above (……is your problem not mine……).

Do you think your manager will be much better placed if s/he puts the instructive insights and
knowledge of OB to understand people better? Explain how understanding of organization
Behavior helps you to better understand workplace dynamism? Besides understanding about
self, enlist the behaviors that OB tries to influence (dependent variables). (20)
 In the above scenario, I think the manager doesn’t have the knowledge of organizational behavior
because s/he doesn’t know how to behave or react with the employee. In an organization the
responsibility of a manager is also to do job design and in job design there is a process of employee
recruiting, training and development, utilization and retirement respectively. And here in the above
scenario there is the problem seeing in the step of training and development in which the manager
gives right training for right job and another factor is also lacking on the manager that is employee
motivation. The sentence (……is your problem, not mine……) directly shows that the manager does
not have the motivation skills as well as he has egoistic behavior and maybe right job is not given to
the right man.
So I think it will be much better if the manager will be placed and puts the instructive insights and
knowledge of OB to understand people better because OB is concerned with people within the
organization, how they are interacting, what is the level of satisfaction, the level of motivation, and
find ways to improve it in a way the yields most productivity.
OB tries to influence;
i. Job satisfaction
ii. Finding the right people
iii. Organizational culture
iv. Leadership and conflict resolution
v. Understanding employees better
vi. Understand how to develop good leaders
vii. Develop a good team
viii. Higher productivity
 Section 2:
APPLICATION OF CONCEPTS TO PRACTICE.

Provide succinct and direct answers. Answer any three Questions. 15*3=45

1. What is your take on personality testing in the workplace? On a scales of Low=1 to High=10,
how would you rate yourself on the Big Five personality dimensions? Is your personality
profile suitable for a managerial position? According to research, which personality
dimension(s) is a stronger predictor of job performance across all professions and which
dimension is associated with success for salespeople?
 If you want an employee to participate meaningfully in your organization, it would be a mistake to
ignore the importance of culture fit. A mismatch between your company’s culture and an employee’s
personality can result in miscommunication, poor productivity, and disengagement. From an
organizational standpoint, this oversight can lead to high turnover, which is costly and inconvenient.
So it is important to take personality testing in the work place.
The "big five" are broad categories of personality traits. In which five traits are:
i. Openness
ii. Conscientiousness
iii. Extraversion
iv. Agreeableness
v. Neuroticism
For openness I would rate myself as 10=high because, I am very creative, open to trying new thing,
focused on tackling new challenges, Happy to think about abstract concepts.
For Conscientiousness I would rate myself as 9 because I spends time preparing, finishes important
tasks right away, pays attention to detail, but dislike having a set schedule.
For extraversion I would rate myself as 9 because I enjoy being the center of attention, like to start
conversations, enjoy meeting new people, have a wide social circle of friends and acquaintances, find
it easy to make new friends, feel energized when around other people but I do not say things before
thinking about them.
For agreeableness I would rate myself as 9 because I do not have a great deal of interest in other
people but I Care about others, feel empathy and concern for other people, enjoy helping and
contributing to the happiness of other people, assists others who are in need of help.
For Neuroticism I would rate myself as 5 because I experience a lot of stress but also deals with
stress, I worry about many different things but also find solutions for the problems, I get upset easily
but also emotionally stable, I experience dramatic shifts in mood, I feel anxious but also deals with the
stress.
Yes my profile is suitable for a managerial position because my personality is best for the managerial
position according to Big Five personality traits.
According to research, extraversion personality dimension is a stronger predictor of job performance
across all professions and it is also the dimension which is associated with success for salespeople.

2. Organizational citizenship (OCB) is a concept that all companies wish to have but very few can
actually achieve. It is rooted in individual employees' view of the company and how they
associate themselves with it. On the other hand, Deviant workplace behavior can be a serious
issue for any company. It has a wide range of impacts on the organization and needs to be
understood and dealt with as it arises. .Explain according to you, contributes to OCB?
 OCB is discretionary behavior that is not part of an employee’s formal job requirements, but that
nonetheless supports the effective functioning of the organization. This discretionary effort could
include, for example, volunteering for extra work or directly helping others on the team with their
assigned job duties.
Most employees understand that their primary duty is to do the work that is assigned to them, stay
away from behaviors that could be deemed troublesome, and deliver work that is acceptable and
beneficial to the organization. Organizational citizenship behavior deals with the actions and
behaviors that are not required by workers. They are not critical to the job, but benefit the team and
encourage even greater organizational functioning and efficiency. This is typically categorized as a
worker “going above and beyond,” or “giving their all.” They look at their job as more than just a
 paycheck and strive to do all they can to make their work environment run smoothly; even if it has a
minimal connection to their current duties. Organizational citizenship (OCB) is a concept that all
companies wish to have but very few can actually achieve. OCB seen in employees nowadays is self-
centred. It is rooted in individual employees' view of the company and how they associate themselves
with it. Nowadays OCB in employees can be seen for the greediness of promotions and rewards but
true OCB can only be seen in very few employees and it is based upon the view of employee towards
the organization.
Nowadays specially in 21st century because of the factors like outsourcing the workplace of an
organization becomes deviant because in an organization there are many employees working together
from different cultural background and having different thoughts in a same factor. For e.g. for some
employees wants holiday package as the reward whereas some employees wants money as the reward,
so to manage such type of deviant work force diversity OB plays a vital role in an organization. OB
helps to understand the behaviour, feelings, thoughts and career planning of the employees.

3. How would you respond to the following statement? “Whenever possible, managers should
hire people with an external locus of control.”?
 Locus of control refers to the extent to which people feel that they have control over the events that
influence their lives. When you are dealing with a challenge in your life, do you feel that you have
control over the outcome? Or do you believe that you are simply at the hands of outside forces? If you
believe that you have control over what happens, then you have what psychologists refer to as an
internal locus of control. If you believe that you have no control over what happens and that external
variables are to blame, then you have what is known as an external locus of control.
I believe internal locus of control is the most important thing to look for in a candidate. Not because
skills and experience are not important. They are. And you have to weigh the importance of each in
the context of your business needs. But the reality is that no candidate is ever perfect. So at some
point, you have to look beyond the resume.
In my own opinion, best hires are– individuals who proved great at their jobs and added the most
value to the organization – were not the perfect candidates for the positions organization hired them
for. They lacked an advanced degree or their experience was in an unrelated industry. But those
candidates had the confidence, persistence and drive to succeed. They could master the specific tasks
of the job over time and their willingness to learn, to perhaps struggle but keep trying, would help
them take the job to the next level. They had an internal locus of control.
So I would respond negative to the above statement, “Whenever possible, managers should hire
people with an external locus of control.”

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